Check the LSM website for more details to come.

CV is back with a vengeance after a long, hot summer. Join us for the first meeting of the year to connect with old friends, and to make some new ones. Bring something interesting and kinky to share (toys, anecdotes, yourself, etc.).

We’ll also be selling our brand-spanking-new Conversio Virium bags for $5 a piece. The proceeds will go toward a banner to hang in Lerner in the spring. They’re made of strong black nylon and sport a sleek CV graphic and the URL of this very website. Great for carrying toys, groceries, books, and discreetly toting CV-pride. 

If you’re new to CV this year, please register to receive our weekly newsletter which will keep you up to date on CV events, as well as other BDSM-related events in the NYC area. Registering also allows you to leave comments on posts. We’ve also created a discussion group. 

Location: 303 Hamilton

A lanky guy in jeans and a red T-shirt announced that he had recently had an “awesome” time learning how to play with needles. A young woman in a Columbia ’05 sweatshirt described her interests as “knitting, crocheting, flogging and bondage.” A studious-looking man in horn-rims identified himself as a “funny kind of sadist.”

Laundry lists of fetishes were ticked off as if they were top choices for graduate school. The group sidetracked into an erudite discussion of the psychological underpinnings of sadomasochism. Finally, club members got down to the business at hand, which was scheduling discussion topics, activities and outings for the semester.

Sexhibition is Barnard/Columbia Take Back The Night‘s annual sex-positive, consent-based fair. This year’s event will take place on Lehman walkway (rain location to be announced).

CV donated a pretty exciting raffle item, so you should all get tickets!

Safe, Sane and Consensual is the motto of many BDSM educators and organizations including CV. Sanity, however, is one category which is especially subjective. Blaise will lead a discussion about substances and how their use pushes the limits of SSC in a scene.

In the article, May May and I talk about pleasure, pain and how those two things relate to [kinky] sex.

If you haven’t already seen the article, you should check it out on their website (it’s a PDF). The article is called “Tie Me Up: A Gadfly Interview with Conversio Virium” and begins on page 13 of the magazine.

Without notions of pain, we could not know pleasure—pleasure and pain, one might argue, are two sides of the same token. Or, as the following interlocutors might argue, one side of the same delicious, voluptuous token. In exploration of this latter view on pleasure-pain, Gadfly is proud to bring you an interview with Vice President Tyler and webmaster Maymay of Conversio Virium (CV), Columbia’s very own student BDSM club.

Read the rest of the article here.

All members (valid CU-affiliates) are requested to come to this meeting to nominate, run and vote. As always, every CV executive board is up for re-election, which means we have four positions that need filling by current CU undergrads (who expect to be enrolled until at least 2009). These positions are as follows:

President: Generally runs meetings, sets up programming each week with the help of the VP, public relations representative, and handles official correspondence.

Vice-President: Handles membership cards and records, handles correspondence, plans weekly programs with Pres., gets the nifty title of “President of Vice,” fills in any gaps as needed.

Treasurer: Handles all finances, must be especially responsible, reliable and expect to attend meetings regularly, handles refreshments.

Secretary: Sends out [witty] weekly emails, posts events and meetings to the website, helps out in any other way needed by the board.

If you think you’ve got what it takes, or even if you don’t, WE WANT YOU to help run Conversio Virium next year. Remember, this is great experience if you are thinking of going into event planning, public relations, or anything that requires a cool head, and strong organizational skills.

If you missed last year’s hit presentation on Erotic Hypnotism, make sure to catch this week’s meeting. Everyone’s favorite hypnotist is back with a second installment.

If you happened to miss this year’s meeting as well, you can read the handout by following the link above.

Since it would quite an ordeal to schedule a Fireplay demo or workshop on campus, I am pleased to announce that Barbara Carrellas will be holding just such a class at LSM this month.

Where: The LGBT Center at 203 West 13th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues
Cost: $5 for members, $10 for non-members

For more information about LSM attendance policy, please be sure to visit their website.

Imagine the relaxation of a sensual massage combined with the thrill of fireplay. In this workshop, you will learn how the sensuous use of fire can transform a sensual massage into a trance-inducing journey into bliss. Barbara will demonstrate four secrets of exquisite touch as well as the basic techniques of fireplay. She will then demonstrate how her unique combination of fire, conscious breath and sensual massage can create a dramatic, profound and intensely pleasurable sexual and sacred experience. Technique, safety, and sensual/art/erotic applications will be covered. Even if you might think that fireplay is not your thing, you may be surprised by the sensual beauty and artistry of the dance of the flame.Barbara Carrellas is the author of Urban Tantra: Sacred Sex for the Twenty First Century and Luxurious Loving: Tantric Inspirations for Passion and Pleasure. She is the founder of Urban Tantra®, an approach to sacred sexuality that adapts and blends conscious sexuality practices from Tantra to S/M, and the co-founder of Erotic Awakening, a pioneering series of workshops focusing on the physical, spiritual and healing powers of sex. Barbara was named Best Tantric Sex Seminar Leader in New York City by Time Out/NY Magazine for her Urban Tantra® workshops. Barbara has been featured in the videos Selfloving, The Sluts & Goddesses Video Workshop, Zen Pussy, Annie Sprinkle’s Amazing World Of Orgasm, in the film Sacred Sex, and in several episodes of the HBO television special Real Sex. Barbara frequently lectures, performs and facilitates workshops with her partner, author and gender outlaw, Kate Bornstein. Visit www.barbaracarrellas.com and www.urbantantra.org to find out more.

Join KinkyJews on a trip to a strip club this Saturday in honor of the Purim holiday.

LOCATION: HOT Lap Dance Club
Midtown West (RSVP for the meet up location)

DATE: Saturday Night, March 22
MEET UP TIME: 11:00 PM

OPEN TO: Men and Women 21+

COST: There is a one time Membership Fee of $10 and an Admission Fee of $50. The cover charge includes unlimited beverages and mixers, snacks and a hot and cold buffet dinner. BYOB.

RSVP: to contact@kinkyjews.com to receive meet-up time and location